Promise AIMS to become Reality!

LOCAL COMMENT

Promise Zones can help push kids into college

February 1, 2008

By STATE REP. TIM MELTON

The days of dropping out of high school or even graduating and then walking into GM, Ford or Chrysler for a good-paying job are long gone. They will never return. Education is the way out of poverty now.

In the 21st Century economy, what the top businesses look for is a talented pool of potential workers, which includes people with at least a college education or a trade. Where there is a high density of college-educated people you will find a strong, thriving economy.

Unfortunately, too many of Michigan's students do not have the resources to afford college and feel that higher education is financially out of their reach. It is critical for the future of our state that Michigan is a leader in education, and we can do that by providing our children the best K-12 schools in the nation and the opportunity of a world-class college education. We must start expecting that our kids will attend college or a trade school and ingrain in them that high school graduation is just a stepping-stone.

Earlier this year, I introduced the Michigan Promise Zone Act, which has already passed the state House with bipartisan support and awaits action in the Senate. This legislation will create zones throughout the state that would ensure access to higher education for anyone who wants it by allowing local communities and school districts to establish in-state tuition funding mechanisms for their high school graduates who want to attend one of Michigan's college or universities.

Modeled on the privately initiated Kalamazoo Promise, which guarantees graduates of Kalamazoo Public Schools free college tuition at any university or community college in Michigan, the Michigan Promise Zone Act would authorize promise zones throughout the state in areas that have a youth (18 and under) poverty rate above the state average and have low levels of educational attainment.

To fund this program, we had to be as creative as possible considering the struggling economy. Promise Zones will create public-private partnerships that will guarantee college education through the bachelor's degree level to young people in participating communities.

These zones will utilize the mechanism of tax increment financing to capture revenues created by rising property values within participating communities -- but only after private funds are raised locally to cover the first two years of expenditures.

The Kalamazoo experience suggests that once the promise of higher education is extended to every family living within the boundaries of a community, property values will experience a significant increase. By establishing a Promise Zone, a community will be able to use that positive impact on property values to partially finance the scholarship promise.

This revenue stream would supplement private resources committed to a local Promise but would not eliminate the need for a very significant commitment of private funds.

There is nothing greater we can do for our economy than making sure every child in Michigan has the opportunity to receive the needed education to compete in the marketplace. Times have changed and we need to change with them. If you want to stimulate the economy, you need to give businesses what they want and need, and that's a well-educated workforce.

TIM MELTON, D-Auburn Hills, was elected in 2006 to represent the 29th state House District. He is a graduate of Oakland University. Write him at timmelton@house.mi.gov.